As the interrogation/translation proceeds inside the Roland, the Nephilim continue to near-coast toward the jump point, one with Zinda still attached.
Cover Squadron: "Are we just going to let them go, sir?"
Zinda Tegram: "[Dumbasses! Hey! Stop flying out I need to talk to you!]"
Spyboy Pearson: "Tempting as the thought may be, I'm not gonna shoot at them while Zinda's still riding one like a surfboard."
Zinda Tegram: "[You fragged my trump card so you better replace it!]"
Spyboy Pearson: "Besides, an intel opportunity like this is not to be missed."Abraham is still watching Isabel carefully. He has no intention of leaving Metis around her without supervision. Still… her work seems to have potential….Zinda Tegram waves at the Nephilim in question.
Spyboy Pearson: "That said, I REALLY don't want to unleash them on an unsuspecting universe, either."
Spyboy Pearson: "Can we get between them and the jump point?"Zinda Tegram tenses at the question from the cover squadron.
Zinda Tegram: "[Idiots! The only thing stopping them from shooting you right now is me, got it?!]"
Cover Squadron: "On it!" The squadron breaks and pulls ahead, on course to take a defensive formation around the jump point.Zinda Tegram bangs on the cockpit.Heggy follows.The Nephilim pilot looks at Zinda, clearly getting that she is trying to say something.Zinda Tegram sighs.
Zinda Tegram: "[Abraham, the guy on that ship, won't shoot me but I'm not gonna follow you through that damn wormhole so if you don't stop I'm gonna let go.]"
Zinda Tegram: "[We can help you find Wenser too, maybe but we'll need something in return.]"
Nephilim: "[Ab rah im?]"Abraham nods his head and calls the bridge. "All stop, but keep the engines warm. Do not go the wormhole yet."
Zinda Tegram: "[Yeah, Abraham!]"
ExecutiveOfficer: "Us or Cover Squadron? We're still docked, sir."Ingenue, Spyboy, and Heggy feel a sudden surge of probes around the Roland's location, the Nephilim searching for something.
Zinda Tegram: "[Fuck, uh…]"
Zinda Tegram: "[Listen, just…stop, and we can talk this out.]"Abraham slaps his forehead. "Cover Squadron. I realize this is a bit hypocritical, but I'm kind of distracted down here."Zinda Tegram mines stopping. Or tries to.
Abraham: "So apologies."
ExecutiveOfficer: "Order relayed. They're holding position."The Nephilim stop.
Spyboy Pearson: "[Metis, can you ask the Admiral why he wants to let the Nephilim esc-huh. Looks like that had some effect.]"Zinda Tegram sighs. "Good. Yes."
ExecutiveOfficer: "…aaaaand the Nephilim are holding too."
Abraham: "I suppose it's nice to see that we /can/ agree on something."Spyboy Pearson frowns and mentally replays Zinda's recent conversation…
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Neutrino comm is point to point.Spyboy Pearson starts digging through the Nephilim network and looking for 'Abrahim.' Or image files…
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Sure, but one of those points I'm listening to. =D
Ingenue: "Admiral, Michael wishes to know why you want to let the Nephilim esc-huh."
[OOC] WC GM: He has a tap on the neu-comm radio?
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: I have a tap on the Nephilim network.
Zinda Tegram: "I don't! I just spent 5 minutes shouting at them to stop!"
Abraham: "Because I do not have a view of the conflict, so I am relying on your mother's reports and recommendations."
Ingenue: "[The Admiral is relying on data gathered by Zinda to form his conclusions.]"
Zinda Tegram: "[OK, uh…]"
Spyboy Pearson: "[Copy that, thanks Metis.]"Zinda Tegram points at the Roland.
Zinda Tegram: "[Abraham's ship.]"
Abraham: "If I were on the bridge I might be doing something different as I would have sensors telling me what is happening and I would be able to form my own strategims. But we are here and it is now."Zinda Tegram pauses, thinks and then starts to mime an exchange.
Zinda Tegram: "Wenser."Zinda Tegram waggles one finger.
Spyboy Pearson: "[I was right…Abraham is an Abrahamic name, after all.]"Zinda Tegram points at the planet.
Zinda Tegram: "[Elles]"
Abraham: "And arguably Isabel's work is more important than what is going on out there. Or not. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. No pressure, Isabel."Zinda Tegram mines elles exploding, and Wenser being delivered.
Zinda Tegram: "[BUT]"
Zinda Tegram: "[To make it work, we'll need…someone to talk to.]"
Zinda Tegram: "[Talk.]"Zinda Tegram visibly gabs her mouth.
[OOC] Abraham: Zinda is the great negotiator.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: xD
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Zinda is a terrible negotiator.The Nephilim looks at the planet, then repeats Zinda's planet-exploding gesture.Zinda Tegram makes a fist, mimes one piece leaving, and then exploding.
[OOC] Ingenue: Charades and math, the two universal forms of communication.
Zinda Tegram: "[There's going to be a launch, and uh]"
Zinda Tegram: "[AFTER the launch we need it to explode]"
Zinda Tegram: "[AFTER]"Zinda Tegram raises one finger
Zinda Tegram: "[BEFORE]"Zinda Tegram makes the leaving gesture.
[OOC] Abraham: Zinda is a terrible negotiator /with humans/. Evidence has demonstrated that the more alien her opposed negotiators are, the better she does.
Zinda Tegram: "[AFTER]"A few taps to the console, then the Nephilim gestures at a recorded image of the former Hotel Cannon, then holds one fist and one finger, then guides the finger into the fist and repeats the planet-exploding gesture.
Zinda Tegram: "[YES, but AFTER]"Spyboy Pearson probes the Nephilim network. Are there any on it other than Nephilim? Any other….castes?
[OOC] Abraham: Spyboy is looking for the Wenser caste. Which is all castes.
Ingenue: "Admiral, it is entirely possible that the Nephilim fleet wishes to speak with you. It is likely that they are routing the pings through me because you are, regretfully, crippled in regards to that method of communication."Zinda Tegram starts with a thumb in the fist, removes the thumb, then puts her pointer finger in and explodes the fist.
Spyboy Pearson: "[Seems possible. Apparently their command caste is called the Abrahim.]"There do not seem to be other castes on the Nephilim network now. There are vestiges that might have used to been channels of communication to other castes, but they are unused at this time.
Abraham: "It's a burden, but I've grown be able to live with it. Very well, please relay their messages."
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: It's not a problem that I've basically promised Abraham to them in exchange for making our problem go away is it?Spyboy Pearson makes a note of those channels. Could be useful in the future.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Erm, Wenser
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Depends on how long of a memory they have for betrayal.
[OOC] Ingenue: No, then Zinda can annex Wenser's carrier, like she had always planned.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: xD You're right
[OOC] Abraham: I was gonna say, I've never had a fellow /player/ try to write me out of a campaign before…
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Actually Zinda plans to blackmail Wenser for the whole story, then with that make the call.
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Clearly you don't have enough experience with Paranoia, then.
Ingenue: "Currently, it is a single thought-concept that approximates to 'Abrahim?'. Do you wish to provide a response?"
[OOC] Abraham: No no no. Killing me is different than basically writing me out of a campaign.
Abraham: "Please respond with 'Yes?', with the 'yes' indicating a query."Ingenue relays the Admiral's message as a response to the inquisitive pings from the Nephilim.
[OOC] Ingenue: This is highly unlikely to result in a bombardment upon the carrier. If the carrier is bombarded, then I was wrong, and due apologies will be made.The Nephilim fleet turn as one to face the Roland - though the line of sight (or weapons fire) would go through several meters of Shipyards.
Ingenue: "I believe the Nephilim have received your response, Admiral. Sensors indicate that they are attentive."
Ingenue: "Receiving a return burst… the specifics lie outside the range of my linguistic databases, but I conclude that they are excited?"Abraham smiles slightly. "Well then, please ask them why they revealed themselves." He does not ask to have his suspicions confirmed that it was because of Zinda. He already knows it was.
Ingenue: "Do you wish the message broadcast in Terran, Oldziey, Kilrathi, or Lagos? I do not have access to a complete Nephilim linguistic database."
Abraham: "Oh I'm sure that you will once Isabel finishes her work. But for now, please use whatever Zinda is using to communicate."
[OOC] Ingenue: Is there any reason why abstract communicative imagery could not be used over the neutrino comm?
[OOC] WC GM: None whatsoever. Go for it.
Ingenue: "Acknowledged. Compiling the animated .gif."Abraham notes that Isabel does not rise to the bait. She is truly and fully absorbed in her work. Abraham nods in approval. Linguistics is a science after all.
[OOC] Ingenue: Maybe she is a puppet with her strings cut? Maybe she's Wenser! …with her strings cut.Abraham arches an eye brow at that. Still, Zinda seems to have had some success with it, so who is he to argue?
[OOC] Ingenue: Animated gifs are the communication tool of the future. Since they seem to understand 'why', something simple: a series of images of the Nephilim fleet uncloaking, indications of transmission, then the concept 'why?', then pause, then loop.An image soon comes back to Ingenue: several points of light inside the Shipyards. Many, many, many points. Several images float outside - the Nephilim, some drones (labeled Cherubhim and Seraphim), and a bit of a void (labeled Abrahim) - and confusion at the points.
[OOC] Abraham: While Ingenue translates that, BRB
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Are those lights…do they correspond with the location of the Lagos on-station?
[OOC] Ingenue: Could said images be relayed, perhaps with some conversion, to the portable computer/tablet/whatever that Abraham so obviously has? And coincidentally, broadcasted to Spyboy's similar, but much more powerful, portable computer?
[OOC] WC GM: The Integrated, specifically.
[OOC] WC GM: Yes.
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Huh. Any chance Michael can find a history, see when the points came up on the network?
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: Also…is Michael one of the points?
[OOC] WC GM: No need. Given their distribution, it is obvious what time index that corresponded to.
[OOC] WC GM: And he is not.
Ingenue: "One moment while the response is converted to a format you can use…converted response tightcasting to your portable computer." ((Also to Zinda and Spyboy via encrypted wireless.))
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: That's actually…really interesting.
[OOC] WC GM: To be clear: it's when the Integrated started poking around, looking for the Nephilim - and found them, quickly.
[OOC] Abraham: BackAbraham pulls out his computer and waits for Ingenue's translation.
[OOC] Ingenue: Be patient, its buffering…. Elles designed the frame to throttle video packets.
[OOC] Abraham: I always suspected Elles was Verizon.
[OOC] WC GM: Nah. Elles is Ma Bell, pre-split.
[OOC] Ingenue: Oh, a monopoly? Zinda, you just gained the moral high ground.
[OOC] WC GM: Along with the other sort of high ground, being outside the gravity well entirely.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: xD
[OOC] Abraham: Zinda is always above, high atop a mountain of corpses. Morally speaking.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: RAWR
[OOC] Ingenue: I'd expect, even with Elles' meddling DASH playback, the buffering is complete by now.
[OOC] Abraham: I'm holding Abe's reactions until WC confirms that.
[OOC] WC GM: It is.
[OOC] WC GM: And Elles isn't in the way between Ingenue and Abraham's hardware.
[OOC] WC GM: So…what buffering?
[OOC] Abraham: Oh no, that would be AI Comcast.
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: DJ BUFFERAbraham studies the image. "Cherubim and Seraphim, eh? What are these lights inside the station. Are the actually telling me where their cloaked ground troops are hiding?"
[OOC] Ingenue: Does Michael relay his conclusions re: said points of light?
Spyboy Pearson: "[No, those are the Integrated. They're probably freely broadcasting their vision.]"Ingenue sets up the data bridge between Abe's computer and the neutrino-network so that communications are properly relayed.
[OOC] Ingenue: And now we have Skype.
[OOC] WC GM: Minus the ads.
Abraham: "I see, so this is a representation of all the neutrino sources that the Nephilim can see."
[OOC] Ingenue: And the Microsoft.
Abraham: "So what is this…void then. Abraham?"
Abraham: "Are the asking me to take The Roland there?"
Ingenue: "Michael indicated that the 'command caste' of the Nephilim were called the Abrahim. That void could indicate their confusion over the similarity of the names 'Abraham' and 'Abrahim', indicating that they may consider you part of the 'command caste'."Abraham winces. He knew he should have had people call him 'Abe'. "So does that mean there are no 'other' Abrahim in the fleet?"
Ingenue: "I do not have that data. Michael, Zinda, do you have further information?"
Spyboy Pearson: "[There are no other Abrahim I can find, no.]"
[OOC] Ingenue: And all of this discussion happening right in front of Isabel. Oh well, we can always brainwash her later, right?
Abraham: "I see. Well then, of the Cherubim and Seraphim, which one is higher ranked? Or does it not work that way?"
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Hmm
Zinda Tegram: "I don't believe there are any at the moment."
[OOC] Abraham: I'm mostly typing. So less Skype as…IRC…and I'm not sitting so Isabel can read over my shoulder. Which doesn't mean she isn't wirelessly monitoring this channel.A bit of analysis of the diagram shows the Seraphim higher.
Abraham: "All right then. Ask them what their long term goals are in this sector or galaxy or whatever unit of stellar space they use?"
Zinda Tegram: "Uh, how?"
Zinda Tegram: "With all due respect Abe I think they believe that you're their 'Abrahim'."
Zinda Tegram: "So…lead."
Abraham: "…right. Hard to pantomime that abstract a concept I suppose. Well, that can wait until we have a non-charades method of communicating with them. Okay. This is insanely risky, and I blame you Zinda for being a bad influence for me even thinking this, but direct them evacuate Mu Cephei. We know that the Neph atmosphere and gravity is compatible with humans and therefore Lagos. They probably won't like the idea, but it's better than the alternative."Abraham calls the bridge. "Do we have a decent place to put the Lagos after they're evacuated? I suspect that we should get them on solid ground as soon as we can."
ExecutiveOfficer: "No, sir. Whatever they're evacuated on, they'll have to live on for a while. Not unless we had some kind of dramatic increase in manufacturing capability."
Abraham: "Hm…thank you XO. Abraham out."Abraham types on his computer. "Zinda, can you contact Elles and see if she has any ideas? She's the cause of this SNAFU, it's only right we make her help deal with it."
[OOC] Abraham: And while Zinda balks at that , BRB
Ingenue: "Zinda, can the slithers handle the manufacturing end? Additionally, is there a slave/worker/subservient caste for the Nephilim? Additionally, is 'Nephilim' even a proper name for them now?"
[OOC] Abraham: And so once again mibbit ragequits a game.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Net popped what happened?
[OOC] Abraham: Also, back.
[OOC] WC GM: Ingenue's waiting on you - PMed
[OOC] Ingenue: Metis is asking mommy /questions/.
Zinda Tegram: "[I…could probably handle it. I believe they referred to the worker class as Ophanim, but uh…I don't want Elles involved.]"
[OOC] Abraham: "Mommy, do humans dream of biological sheep?"
[OOC] Ingenue: Reminder that Abe currently is looped into the Nue-comm circuit via… IRC, apparently.
Abraham: "There's no mention of… Ophanim?… on the… gif. Which is not conclusive proof, I admit, but it does mean if they have any they're keeping quiet about them."
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Send me the gif again please?
[OOC] WC GM: Wasn't an actual OOC gif
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Ah.
[OOC] Abraham: It's possible that Ophanim don't go into space and they're kept planetside for…worker-stuff and only eggs go into space so they can do worker-stuff on new worlds.
Zinda Tegram: "GIF? Sorry, uh…I do know that the Nephilim uh, referred to some their construction drones as Ophanim, so…"
Abraham: "Workers might not be considered a separate caste to them."
Abraham: "Someone should probably ask about the Ophanim."
[OOC] Abraham: And for yucks, turns out the Abrahim are the Ophanim and the workers were in charge the entire time.
[OOC] Ingenue: Hrm.
[OOC] Abraham: Zinda and the other Oldzies discovered that Mibbit was behind everything.
[OOC] WC GM: If she doesn't reconnect soon, we can call it a short session.
[OOC] Spyboy Pearson: The pirates are blockading IRC again.
[OOC] Ingenue: I thought Zinda was the pirates?
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Argh
[OOC] Abraham: Because I am a vile human being devoid of any empathy for my fellow humans, it's actually heartening to see people having connection troubles that are not me.
[OOC] Ingenue: Been there. Sympathies.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: This is router signal issues probably.
[OOC] Abraham: I blame Frontier.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: One our apt mates quit and took his ball home so we're borrowing wifi.
[OOC] WC GM: Anyway, Zinda's turn?
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Ah right
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Wanted me to ask a thing right? Log got cleared sorry. >_<
[OOC] WC GM: PMed again
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Oh, I thought I responded to it.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Like, "yeah I can do it but I dun wanna get elles involved."
[OOC] Abraham: Mibbit was hungry and ate your post, I guess.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Argh
[OOC] WC GM: No, that got posted.
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: Yeah!
[OOC] Zinda Tegram: When I called them Ophanim
[OOC] Abraham: Is anyone going to ask about the Ophanium?
Zinda Tegram: "I guess I can try."
Abraham: "Please do."Zinda Tegram points to the Nephilim's ship. "Ophanim?"
[OOC] Abraham: And the Neph immediately open fire. Apparently that's their word and we're not allowed to use it.The Nephilim pilot looks at Zinda, then pulls up an image of a spider-like thing assembling a fighter very similar to the Nephilim's. "[Ophanim.]"
[OOC] WC GM: …alright, calling it there on account of unstable connection.